Sunday, December 12, 2010

Have You Ever Met A Movie Star, Face to Face

This has nothing to do with fishing, but something on the morning news cast triggered a memory and I thought I'd throw it out there and see what response there was.

Many years ago, I think it was in the late 60's, I was at the Los Angeles County Jail bailing out a friend. As I was waiting for him to come out and if you've ever done this, you know it takes a good bit of time. Sitting across the room was Carroll O'Connor. You know him best as Archie Bunker on "All in the family" and police chief Bill Gillespie on the TV show "In the heat of the night". He was there bailing out his son Hugh, who played Det./ Lt. Lonnie Jamison on "In the heat of the night". The sad part about this story is that Hugh committed suicide because of a drug habit. There is more to this tragic story. If you wish to read about it, here is a link to Hugh's story on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_O'Connor

Being the bold person I am, I walked over to him and asked him how much fun was it making "All in the family"? I was surprised by his answer and it changed my view of movie stars. His response was "It's a job, just like your's. I get up in the morning, go to work, and come home at night". We talked for a while longer, and then my friend came out and we left.

I'm sure that not all movie stars are like that, but he was a big star at that time and it left a life long impression on me.

MarkHe could have been in the Archie Bunker role still, or still mad at Edith. Sometimes stars forget how they got to be a big movie star. I had a friend who met Robert Duvall last year in Nashville. He said he was the same individual in person as he is on the screen. I would like to met him someday. To me he is one of the greatest Western actors of all time. Didn't know this until the other day but he will turn 80 in the spring, and he is still turning out great movies.

Unfortunately we make actors out to be bigger than they really are. After all they are just people like you and me. And a job is a job. Sometimes it pays the bills and sometimes it does not. We should be so enthralled with the garbage man, after all with out him our own life would be full of crap.Cheers

Well, I got to interview Peter Graves from the shows Court Marshal and Mission Impossible and Fury (a long time ago). Also brother of James Arness from Gunsmoke. Very nice guy. I asked him in the tv show Fury how he liked playing second fiddle to a horse. He laughed and said that the horse was unbelievably smart. Most of my conversations have been with 60s rock stars. Pretty descent people for the most part.

I suspect that considering what was going on with Carroll O'Conner's the family at the time could explain his demeanor.

I met Cecil Fielder, outfielder for the Detroit Tigers. Seemed like a nice enough guy. I try to approach these types of personalities. They're people too, and probably want to be left alone. But that didn't stop me from getting his signature:)

No movie stars, but I work in sports so I get to meet a lot of athletes. I probably wont name any names because...well...most of them aren't all that personable, especially folks that wear/wore #5. Retired #5 from the KC Royals was an "interesting" guy...Current #5 on the Redskins...I won't even go there.

Awww I missed this one dealing with the flu but it is true a lot of them don't feel what they do is that special. I met Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin when they helped us here at PAWS (when they were a couple) and Kim still helps us out and I talk to her from time to time when she calls about different things...she is very sweet but intensely shy..which is funny I know given the roles she plays...but I never really cared for Alec much but I think he is funny sometimes in 30 rock. Met Lindsay Wagner to once way back when she helped us rescue a baby elephant...they are just people...some more neurotic than others! But Kim has said to me she thinks the work non celebrities do is much more important than what she does.